Soft Heart
by B.A. Gemar
Summary: "There is power in kindness," her grandmother once said, "a great power in the touch of a helping hand, that can tame even the most frightening of beasts," Kaylin tried to live by a creed of kindness, to value the life of any creature above all else, to be gentle, and to lend a hand where she could. But this beast lived by a creed of death and murder, and now, she belonged to it.
1. Mirage

"He's stable, vitals are good."

"Minimal blood loss, heart rate is normal."

The reports came from either side, continuously updating the status of the patient as the surgery progressed. The reports and the rhythmatic noises from the monitor machines helped keep the surgeon focused as she stared into the small opening in the chest of the man.

"I can see it," she said calmly, though she could barely hear herself past her heart in her ears and her own breathing, "forceps."

The tool was placed in her open hand and very carefully she opened them and placed them into the small cavity, kept open by the retractors.

"Time."

"Three-eleven, twelve minutes since induction."

"He's still in the heavy stages of sedation."

Good, only once had this kind of surgery gotten away from her due to the sedative wearing off, she never wanted a repeat. She used the forceps to clamp around the round fleshy node. Everyone around the table held their breaths, even after witnessing at least twenty of these surgeries already. But even she couldn't help but catch her breath in her throat. Very carefully, moving the forceps back and forth she wiggled the node loose from its tightly curled position. The major part of it came loose almost startlingly but she did not allow herself to flinch.

Letting out her breath slowly, she began to pull taking out the long slender fleshy creature, tiny forelimbs curled up underneath its oblong head, armed with crystalline teeth. It was an ugly thing, a dangerous thing. A nurse was ready with a canister, and the fleshy, blood-covered snake-like parasite was placed inside. With a press of a button, the canister was filled with a gas, and the creature was put to sleep.

Relieved sighs and smiling eyes were everywhere. Her own eyes sparkled as she began the work on stitching up the patient.

"Vitals still good, heart rate normal."

"Good work doctor," came a voice from above them, and her amber eyes shot up to the glass above them where a man in a labcoat was watching, and three people in suits that she didn't recognize, "another success."

She was out of the surgery room shortly after, having disposed of her mask and scrubcap, the gown and the nitrile gloves. She was back in her grey jumpsuit in no time, but didn't even let her hair down before she was out and into the hallway where a mother and two children were waiting. Expectant eyes landed on her, and she could see the relief that her smile alone brought to the face of the older woman.

"The surgery was a success, the parasite was removed with no problem," she said and the woman began to cry. She stood, being much taller than she, and hugged the young doctor tightly sobbing gratitude. She let her cry, it was always good to cry. Once the woman let her go, she smiled and held her shoulders comfortingly, "he's still asleep, but he's recovering quickly, he'll be ready to go home in just a few days, but if you want to see him now, you can."

"Oh God," whimpered the woman, clasping her hands before her mouth as if praying. She inhaled and swallowed, "yes, we want to see him."

The young doctor smiled and nodded, turning to lead the woman.

"Miss Carnica," came the same voice from the room and the young doctor turned. She knew the doctor standing there very well, but the three unknowns were with him still, "can I have a moment of your time?

"Yes I—, in just a second? Please?" the doctor's small voice pleaded gently, and the doctor put his hands in his coat, but nodded with a smile. The young doctor smiled back and led the woman and her children down the hall. The three of them filed into the room, lined with metal walls, but otherwise had the feeling of a real hospital. The two young boys hopped in and scrambled into the chairs next to the man's bedside and peered over the side to look at the man. The woman, smiling and holding back tears, rested a hand on her husband's brow and stroked it lovingly.

"Daddy?" one of the boys called and touched his father's arm.

"Shh, daddy's sleeping," said the woman and hugged her son.

"When do we see daddy's baby?" asked the younger son quietly and the woman let out a gasp that was sort-of a laugh.

The young doctor stood outside the door, looking in, smiling gently, so glad that she could help this family avoid tragedy. It was beautiful.

"Miss Carnica?"

The young doctor turned around and gave him a listening look. He smiled and placed a hand on her shoulder, "well done, you're a miracle worker," the young doctor shook her head at the praise, but smiled.

"Kaylin, I'd like to introduce you to Karl Bishop Weyland, senior director of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation," he gestured to the man and the young doctor smiled and shook his hand. She didn't need the man's title added to his name, she was wearing the company logo on the front of her jumpsuit, above the saying 'building better worlds.'

Strangely, the doctor didn't introduce the other two, a man and woman of mixed-Japanese descent, the man shorter than the woman, and more 'purebred' in appearance with dark eyes, hair and ochre skin, while the woman was more Caucasian, like Kaylin.

"Miss Carnica," Weyland said, his grip was strong and firm, "what you did today was amazing, and Dr. Wilkins tells me you've performed this miracle some twenty times now, and that you pioneered the method, after only being here for a few months."

"Yes I—I was assigned here as a genetic specialist, to test and discover the medical properties and application of the local flora and fauna. I learned shortly after that the parasites were an inherit problem found in this place and had caused forty-two deaths prior to my arrival. I—I discovered the method of safely extracting the parasite nymph, after one Mr. Johnson had been impregnated for longer than usual. I found in his blood tests that he had a genetic thyroid disorder that slowed down his metabolism, and so also decelerated the growth of the parasite."

"Interesting," said Karl smiling, "tell me more," he put a hand on her shoulder and turned her down the hall. Kaylin smiled and sorted through her thoughts before continuing.

"The process from there was very easy, I was able to synthesize a metabolism slowing agent that can be injected into an impregnated person the moment that the parasitoid detaches itself from its victim, for as we know it is impossible to remove it once it's placed it's ovipositor within the victim's throat. This means that we can have a more controlled time-frame between impregnation and the nymph's completed maturation.

Kaylin was momentarily distracted as she realized she did not recognize the hallway she was in, and looked around for some familiar features, or signs to show where she was, but Karl's voice interrupted her, "go on."

"From there it became very simple, using what I had learned I was able to develop a sedative that was capable of affecting both host and parasite, as previous attempts had only resulted in the host being sedated, but the parasite within was not, which had…," she swallowed and looked down with a guilty conscience.

"I'm very sorry Kaylin," said Weyland and she looked up with an apologetic smile.

"I've streamlined the process now, and I have not lost a single patient since."

"Incredible," Weyland said quietly, shaking his head, "absolutely remarkable. Dr," Dr. Wilkins turned to look at Mr. Weyland, "have you increased her pay?"

"I've offered many times Mr. Weyland, but she refuses to accept payment for her surgeries and continues only to live off of her original agreed-upon contract salary of 63,700 credits."

"Which I think, is still too much."

"Too much!?" Mr. Weyland said, stopping. His wrinkled brow was raised in surprise as he looked down at the small woman. She shifted sheepishly under his hazel gaze.

"I'm not doing it for the money," she clarified. Mr. Weyland blinked and then laughed.

"What an interesting person you are," he said and resumed leading her somewhere, "well Kaylin, we at Weyland-Yutani are very impressed with the work you've done here. After some discussion we would like to invite you onto a project we've had going on here for a while. It would grant you a great opportunity to study the alien life forms we discovered and open a path for leaps and bounds in the medical field."

Kaylin's eyes turned to Mr. Weyland, sparkling at the words he was saying.

"It's a classified project, we will have to write up a new contract and your clearance will be raised to level three. You will be granted access to the lower levels of the facility here on LV-7, but I want to make it clear, you won't be able to tell anyone what's going on down there, no relatives or friends. The project is in its very delicate beginning stages, and a single leak could cause the entire thing to crash. Do you understand?"

Kaylin nodded without hesitation.

"Good."

Mr. Weyland continued their walk and began to dictate a contract, which the man behind his began writing on a tablet. Kaylin stayed near Dr. Wilkins, but her eyes continued to wander towards Mr. Weyland. She was, of course, paying attention to what he was saying, to see if there was something he was adding in that she didn't agree with, but most of what he was saying had to do with secrecy. Whatever this project was, it was obviously very important not to let it be known.

Once the leisurely stroll ended with the finishing of the dictation, Mr. Weyland turned and took the tablet from the man and read it over, before handing it to Kaylin with the stylus, "here, this will be just a working contract for now, I'll have a more formal one renegotiating your salary and such, but I don't think that will be a problem, as you've stated you've no interest in money."

Kaylin took the stylus and smiled, signing where the line was. Mr. Weyland took the tablet and took from the woman a badge, handing it to Kaylin. It was a very simple, plain white badge that had a orange stripe and the number '3' sitting on it above the Weyland-Yutani logo.

"This will be your temporary badge allowing you access to the lower levels, until your new ID can be printed off, just wear it below your normal ID, but show this one to the scanners. We'll update your retinal information into the computers as soon as we can."

Kaylin looked down at her jumpsuit and clamped the plain badge underneath the little ID badge that had her picture and name on it, and the clearance level 4 marked underneath. She then smiled up to Mr. Weyland who grinned, wrinkling the crow's feet by his eyes.

"I'm very excited to show you what we're working on, come with me."

Kaylin followed along with Mr. Weyland's brisk steps further down the hallway and to an elevator. It was no secret to the colonists like herself that there were lower levels to the facility they were working in, the only mystery was the wonder of what those levels were _for_.

Kaylin was about to find out. Mr. Weyland ushered her into the elevator with Dr. Wilkins and the unknown woman, but the young man stayed outside. Mr. Weyland pressed the button for the lower levels and a panel slid open for the bright blue light of the retinal scanner. He leaned forward for just a second as the blue laser moved down and then up across his eyes then he leaned back.

"Welcome Mr. Weyland," said MOTHER's voice, "detecting other passengers aboard, confirm level three or higher clearance please."

The woman stepped up and had her eyes scanned and the computer welcomed her as well as 'Mrs. Yutani' and then also welcomed Dr. Wilkens. When MOTHER asked for Kaylin's clearance, Mr. Weyland opened up a panel manually, grunting a bit as it got stuck, but then typing on a pad within before shutting it.

"Guest presence authorized," said MOTHER and the elevator began to move down. Kaylin was very excited, barely able to contain herself and she clasped her hands together. What was down here, what where they working on? The elevator only went down one level and the doors opened. Dr. Wilkin's opened the grate to allow the three others out before following. Kaylin almost had to skip to keep up with the longer legs of the three individuals with her, not at all disappointed at how this level looked almost identical to the level above it; metal walls, metal doors, metal floors and ramps, rusting in some areas with electrical lights lighting up signs to doorways and hallways.

"Here we are," Mr. Weyland said with relief, stopping at one door labeled '103.' He opened it up and stepped inside. It was immaculate within, and Kaylin's eyes immediately dropped to the table where strange instruments were laid out. What appeared to be an oblong-shaped case was opened out and emptied, and what was presumably the contents were placed on the table beside it. Two people were walking around and taking notes on other things made of the same metal as the case, a strange metal that seemed out of place. Kaylin, absent-mindedly grabbed a mask, gloves and safety glasses as she stepped in, almost in a trance.

She moved to the table and got a look from one of the other doctors, who then looked to Mr. Weyland who only nodded in affirmation, and the doctor got back to work. Kaylin lifted what was undoubtedly a syringe, filled with a clear fluid. She didn't eject any of it and set it down. Her hand glazed over a vial of some sort, another container and a disk that had folded plates clamped down over it. There were also tools, not unlike the ones she had been using just minutes ago. But they were all made of the strange metal, not iron or steel, not anything that she could recognize just by looking at it.

"These are what we presume to be medical supplies that were picked up outside the facility," Mr. Weyland said.

"Who's… are they? They're not human…."

"No," Mr. Weyland said and a hand rested on her shoulder, "they're his."

Kaylin looked up at Weyland, then forward at a glass panel beyond a viewing room. Behind the tinted glass, a dark shape moved and a massive frame lifted. Bright eyes glowered from dark sockets and for clawed mandibles spread in a silent roar.

Kaylin's eyes widened as she watched the alien ram its shoulder into the glass again and again before roaring once more. One of the doctors pressed a button and a gas filled the panel, hiding the creature from view. She saw its dark form collapse and the doctors got back to work as if nothing had happened.

What had she gotten herself into?


	2. Fractured

The next few weeks were a nightmare. Kaylin wanted out, but she had a feeling this was going to be one of those 'you know too much' scenarios, and she would disappear. Yes, maybe the other doctors had enough experience and enough of her notes to continue with the parasite removal themselves, but… she was also afraid to disappear, to die. So she signed the formal contract, even though there was much more frightening clauses that hadn't been in the working contract. Words like 'termination,' and 'penalized,' while normal words in contracts, sounded much more like guns to her head as she signed it.

They issued her a new ID, and she started working on the lower level, wanting to be anywhere but. They treated her fine, they were nice even, to her, and often she was simply left alone to test the materials and medicines that they had found in the alien's kit, and to study its biology from samples they gave her. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that sometimes, just one sound-proof sheer panel glass away from her, that alien they had imprisoned would be tortured.

They were merciless to it, exposing it to extremes, hot and cold, testing different atmospheres until it was either choking or heaving. They would sedate it, without knowing the kind of dose it would need, or if it would even react to it, then they would strap it to a table, and electrocute it, and continue to until it awoke howling in pain.

She could hear it in her nightmares. She would wake up in the middle of the night, sweating, sure that its cries were coming through the floor, even though the room it was in was thrice soundproofed. And then she would hug her knees to her chest and weep. Some nights, she would go downstairs, down to the room it was in, and look through the glass, past the viewing room and into the window. Sometimes she could see it, sitting on the ground on the opposite wall, staring at the glass, as it shoulders heaved up and down, struggling for breath.

It hated her. She could see it clearly. It hated them all, because of what they were doing to it.

And was she really any better for keeping her head down and letting it happen?

She would apologize, put her hand to the glass and try to express how sorry she was. If ever she got a response, it was the alien moving out of her view.

She requested a work room away from the alien. It was absolutely no secret to the other doctors that what they were doing disturbed her. Some were annoyed, the others seemed to pity her, either way, she was granted her own room to continue her research. It made her feel even more guilty, turning her back to the alien's pain.

She didn't understand why they were doing this to it, why they were putting it through torture the likes of which hadn't been witness by humanity since Josef Mengele. It occurred to her, later, that they seemed to be trying to break it, to tear down its spirit, for no matter how much pain and agony they put it through, it would always fight, it would always roar defiantly, and it would always stare them down with the pride of a lion.

They were trying to dominate a mountain that refused to fall, and in this way, it made its life a literal hell. They discovered soon that it didn't like the cold, and she found one evening, trying to visit it, that the very edges of the glass panel of its holding cell were frosted.

She tried to change the temperature, to adjust the settings in the room, only to find that it needed a level two clearance. The door, the computer, and everything else there required a level two clearance to operate properly. There was nothing she could do for it. She apologized to the glass, and it moved out of her view.

There was nothing she could do, she kept telling herself. There was nothing she could do to help it. Progress on her research slowed down 'unacceptably.' She was told to get back to work, that they didn't understand why she was slacking. It was unlike her, they said, they expected so much more from her. But what could she do? What could she really do?

She could do _something_. She _would_ do something. She began to plan. She got her work up to standard, pleased the higher ups. Even though it pained her, she asked to be moved back into the room with the other doctors, blaming her past inadequacies on the lack of social interaction. Once she was in the room again, she began to monitor routines, trying to find an opportunity to swipe an ID card, or cause one to be 'lost' and retrieve it later.

It never came. Everyone was very careful. Everything was precise. She got caught once trying to take the ID off of someone's pocket, able to pass it off as asking about where their last name was. All the while, just one thin sheet of glass away, the alien's torture continued. This time, a line was crossed. This time, they were exposing it to chemicals to monitor the reactions. This time, they got one.

She barely remembered the day preceding it, but she remembered clearly the gargling roaring noise, the spasming and thrashing as the alien began to seizure. Doctors gave it a wide berth, and just watched. Kaylin pushed through, demanding to help it. When they questioned her she retorted. If it died, where were they going to get another one? Her words struck true, and she was allowed to treat it. She took the medicine she had been studying, hoping there was enough left, and injected one of the liquids directly into its heart.

It took only one minute for its body to stop thrashing. It was unconscious, but alive. She stroked the alien's crest gently, and silently apologized. It probably would have been a greater mercy to let it die.

When the higher-ups demanded to know why she wasted the medicine, she tried the same reasoning of where another alien like it would be procured. The supervisor over the facility didn't buy it, but Mr. Weyland himself intervened. He thanked Kaylin for saving it, saying it would have been a great waste if it had died. Because he had something greater planned for it.

He wanted it healthy. Its regular torture sessions stopped. It was fed a regular diet, and Kaylin was allowed to treat its wounds while it was strapped down to the table. For a full fourteen-day period, they took _care_ of it, and Kaylin was beginning to think that whatever Mr. Weyland had planned for it would be a good thing. Mr. Weyland was a good man.

Then, the day came. That day, there was a sort of tension in the air. An excited buzz that Kaylin couldn't place. She didn't understand, as they strapped the alien down to the table, what it was Mr. Weyland was planning. Then they brought in the canister. Within, unmoving, was one of the fleshy spider-like parasitoid that inhabited this planet. With horror, Kaylin realized that they were going to intentionally infect the alien, and to her further horror, she realized that the reason she was asked to be on-hand in that room that day, that the reason she had been studying the alien's medicines and biology, was to be able to perform the same extraction procedure that she had done for the colonists.

So that the alien could be impregnated again, and again.

She was rooted to her spot, dressed in her surgical gown and mask, nitrile gloves tight against her hands as they clenched into fists. They removed the parasitoid from the canister; it was sedated, for now. She stared dumbly as the doctor turned, carrying the slick and still-wet creature towards the door to the viewing room. She saw the alien turn its head, and see its fate.

They succeeded. When the golden eyes of the alien fell upon the limp, long-legged creature, fear entered its face. It was afraid. They had won. Kaylin's heart broke. She heard the alien whimper through the opened door.

Something snapped.

Gore splattered onto the walls and the floors. People screamed. A body fell to the floor, scrambling for escape. A guttural scream beat against the metal walls. Cries and yells for help reached for the door but never made it. The glass canister shattered on the tile. Blood mixed with the clear, viscous fluid. The screaming stopped.

Kaylin stood still in the middle of carnage, heaving past gnashed teeth, vision blurred by tears. A bloody scalpel in her right hand. She shuddered, not entirely registering what she had done, then heard skittering. Panic filled her as she saw the parasitoid flip onto its legs from where it had dropped. It skittered back and forth, then moved towards the door, seemingly sensing the better of the two possible hosts.

Kaylin lunged, barely missing the end of its lengthy tail as it whipped around the door. The alien saw the thing plan an angle of attack. It strained against the straps holding it down as the long tail whipped to propel it from the floor towards its victim. Its tail was caught. It was smacked violently to the ground, and the sharp end of the scalpel pierced its back, straight in the middle.

Kaylin snatched her hand back, grabbing tightly around her wrist as the acid blood burned through her gloves and ate away at her flesh almost instantly. Crying and hissing in pain she used the gown to wipe away the acid, but not before it claimed her entire pinky, and most of her ring finger. She ripped off the gown and tossing it to the floor before it could melt to her legs or abdomen, curled in pain for only a moment, she reached out and removed the melting scalpel from the twitching parasitoid's body and used it to melt through the straps holding the alien down.

Once the final one was released from around its upper body, its massive hand closed around her throat. It roared at her face, holding her easily off the ground. She grabbed at its hand, trying to gasp for air.

"Plea-ease," she gasped, and it rattled an angry growl, looking at her, then down at the lifeless alien on the ground, then back to her as her vision darkened around the edges. It then dropped her, unceremoniously, to the ground. She held her throat, coughing harshly and gasping for air. The alien moved past her and stopped at the doorway, viewing the carnage that the small woman had wrought.

She stood, favoring her melted hand against her body and slipping past it. It glanced down at her as she turned to face it, bent in pain, half-sobbing.

"You need to go," she said, "you need to escape," she swallowed hard, "I'll help you."

Alarms went off around them. They needed to move quickly.

"Grab him," she pointed at the doctor with the level 2 clearance, "we need him for the retinal scan."

The alien looked at here she was pointing with her mutilated hand, and reached down. Rather than lift the whole body, though, it merely tore the head from its shoulders in a single tug. Kaylin was instantly sick by the counter, coughing then swallowing bile before more could make it out of her system. She leaned heavily on the door, opening it and making a mad dash for the elevator.

MOTHER was reporting the incident and calling the marines to the area. There was going to be a lot of guns coming at them soon. Heaving and shuddering, Kaylin turned to the massive alien who stormed into the elevator behind her. She hit the button for the lower level, ignoring the panicked screams coming from outside.

When the retinal scanner panel slid open she had the alien put the eyes to the scanner.

"Welcome Mr. Boothe," said MOTHER, "detecting other passengers aboard, confirm level two or higher clearance please."

Kaylin swore plaintively and turned to the alien.

"Back-up," she told it and it rattled at her. She shooed it with her good hand and it stepped back, then again when she persisted. Once it was out of the elevator the doors started to close and Kaylin waved the alien in. It crashed through, landing heavily on the ground then stood to its full height. It worked. MOTHER had been tricked into thinking the other presence had left. The elevator descended one floor and Kaylin favored her arm, refusing to look at her hand.

Her logic was simple. If it was on level two, then its ship and other things had to be on one of the lower levels, right? Or outside, but she had a feeling outside would be harder to get to. She had no idea how she was going to get to level four. The doors opened and revealed the third level. Bullets immediately tore into the elevator just as Kaylin was about to step out. Both her and the alien took shelter behind the walls of the elevator, the alien standing tall and waiting, Kaylin crouching into a ball, covering her head as she cried.

Something clattered to the ground and she looked down and saw some sort of grenade. In a split second, she kicked it back out of the elevator. Exclaimed cries resounded before an earth-rocking explosion. The alien was gone in an instant, and Kaylin followed after it. She didn't look at the burning and torn apart bodies as they hurried through them, only saw that this was the level they wanted to be on. It had to be, it was huge.

They ran down the level together, entering hallway and she snatched one woman with a level one clearance and demanded from the blubbering woman, "where's its ship!? Where's its ship!?"

The woman blubbered and cried, but then pointed down the hall and Kaylin took off down it, followed by the alien.

"This way, this way," she encouraged, more to herself than the alien.

They ran past a window and Kaylin froze. She took steps back to look in, amber eyes wide with horror. Within the room, lining the walls in glass cages, tall, black shiny creatures skittered and moved. They were almost serpentine, moving up and down the walls, trying to find any means of escape. Black domed, eyeless heads moved back and forth, hissing to reveal translucent teeth.

She knew what these were. _She had helped cultivate them_.

If these were here, what horrors were on level four?

Choking on a sob, she forced herself to turn, noticing the alien had stopped to look back at her. It probably would have left if she had waited too long.

The hallway finally opened up into a larger area, obviously a docking station, and very clearly there was its ship. It ran forward, stopped, then looked at her as she stayed put.

"Go!" she yelled, squeezing her injured hand. So much desperation, agony, and pain filled her as she shouted, "you have to go!"

The alien seemed to hesitate, but she was sure she imagined it. It turned away from her, running to his ship. As the ramp opened to its touch, she heard footsteps file behind her. Bullets ricocheted around the alien as it ascended up the ramp. She was grabbed from behind, her hair pulled tightly and then she was shoved to the ground, the barrel of a gun to her face. The ship lifted into the air, the noise of the engine so loud the shouts of Mr. Weyland, ordering the men to shoot the ship down could not be heard.

A large blue blot of light tore through one of the walls, and with a flash and a scalding wave of heat, the ship was gone. Kaylin collapsed on the ground, spent and crying. Writhing as she half-sobbed and half-laughed. The front of her shirt was roughly grabbed and she was lifted with ease to meet the hazel eyes of Mr. Weyland.

"You're going to pay," he snarled venomously before roughly pushing her to her knees. He turned his back to her, fists clenched, and the butt of a rifle came for her face.


	3. Cloud Nine

That was many years ago, almost a decade. She thought very little of it now; she had much more important things to do.

Kaylin had adjusted to a new life, on a jungle planet labeled GR-208, but affectionately called Neo Australia by the inhabitants. It was a penal colony, not a well-monitored one. The place was truly a prison, but without guards. Inmates here were soon absorbed into one of the many gangs the moment they were dropped off. No one cried out 'racism!' here, it was a way of life. Each gang had a territory, a territory that was like their own city, built with houses and businesses.

They lived apart, like Native Americans lived separately across the wide empty plains, but just like children playing Indians, someone would bum-rush into another territory, stab someone, and cause a mess.

A mess that Kaylin had to clean up.

She remembered when she had been dropped here. Charged with involuntary manslaughter, and she was 'accidentally,' deposited on the wrong level of penal colony. Weyland hoped she would die. She probably would have, with how gentle and meek she was, but also refusing to join any of the specific 'white-skinned,' and 'close enough to be Asian,' gangs that tried to assimilate her. But when the third day rolled around, and she saw a dying dark-skinned man beneath some ferns and saved his life, she immediately made a place for herself on the small planet.

Neutral territory. Don't touch. She was the Switzerland of the world war. Earning the favor of every available gang quickly, and accidentally. She helped deliver the breech baby of the lover of the leader of one gang. Saved the eye of the leader's brother of another. Eventually she had accumulated enough favor that it was mutually agreed that the doctor was to be left alone.

It was, of course, the only thing the gangs ever agreed upon.

They gave her a small spot, somewhere off on the outskirts away from them all, to call her own. But close enough to save someone's life. They had even built a house for her, one of the gangs. It was more like a hut, but she was grateful for it. There were no rooms in it, just one large circular area. From the gangs here, she had gotten a bed, a table with four chairs, a nightstand for her bed, and even cabinets. The talent among the people she lived with astonished her, and her genuine gratitude astonished them.

Of course, her table was heavily stained with blood, as it served as her operating table when the need arose. Today, though, it was serving as a seat for the son of a guest.

Tyke, he was called, and he was cute little thing, dark-skinned with short peppercorn hair on his head. She smiled gently as he held a white mouse in one hand and she looked over his arm in the other. His arm was cast with a sort of mud that she could make from the clay-like soil on this planet and water. It solidified almost like cement, and the arm needed to be chiseled out.

"I think we can take this off now," she said and Tyke looked at her with wide dark eyes.

"No!" protested the six-year old.

"But don't you want to have your arm back?"

Tyke snatched away his arm and held it close, the white mouse also held closely, clutched tight in his little fist, "but mommy and daddy signed it!" he pleaded, "uncle Joe drew a picture on it! See!?"

He held out his arm, pointing at the picture of a sun with a smiling face, the white mouse sitting comfortably in the boy's fist.

She gently touched his fingers and smiled at him, brushing his cast as if cleaning it, "well, what if I can save Joe's picture?"

The boy's lips pursed as he seriously thought about the offer. His small eyes squinted hard as if he didn't trust her. Kaylin smiled over at his father, leaning against the doorway to her hut. The proud man smiled back, a shock of white against his dark lips.

"Okay," Tyke finally said with a shrug of his shoulders, and shifted his weight in his seat. Kalyin smiled and took out her tools, a rock and a butter knife. Very carefully she hammered out a circle around the smiling sun until she was able to pry the entire disk out by itself. She gave it to him to hold, and he traded the mouse for the stone and looked at it. Kaylin put her pet on her shoulder and continued to work. The young boy kicked his legs, without a care in the world, so focused on that stone as piece by piece of the cast fell off. Finally, it was all a pile of stones and dust, and she brushed off his arm and gave it one more check over. She then smiled and tapped his leg.

"All done," she reported happily and he slid off the table, thumping to the ground and jogging over to his dad.

"Thank's Kay! You're the nicest white lady!"

Kaylin sputtered and hid her smile. Jone just laughed and rubbed his son's head, "hey bud, you should make that into a necklace," he said, gently touching the stone.

"Yeah, I'll make it into a necklace," Tyke repeated, turning the stone different angles. He then looked over at Kaylin again, "hey Kay, can I bring some crumbs for Algea?"

Kaylin smiled, "you most certainly may bring comes for Algea, I'm sure she'll love them."

"Okay," Tyke nodded once, "let's go dad," he ordered, taking his father's hand and walking briskly out the door, putting on his high-held 'I'm the man,' face as they walked out. Kaylin smiled and waved at Jone as she dusted off her table, letting it fall to the ground which was dirt anyway. She dusted her hands and went to her doorway, freezing and standing stalk still. Jone had Tyke positioned behind him, and was walking sideways past another man of different color, who was walking sideways around him. The Caucasians had Jone outnumbered three to one, the tension in the air was thick, Kaylin trembled slightly. But the two groups honored the agreement, and once they were ten paces apart, they turned from each other. Jone lifted Tyke up and took him down the road, and the Caucasian walked up to Kaylin's house, all smiles.

"Hey Kay," he said and invited himself in while the other two stayed outside on either side of the door. Kaylin simply smiled and moved across the hut.

"Hey Cee," she answered and took from one of the cabinet a small cloth bag, the herbal tea blend that she had prepared, "I added some honey this time, I know it's bitter stuff, but hopefully this will make it easy to drink. How's she doing?"

"Mart's still sick," he said, his face falling to genuine concern, "she couldn't eat anything yesterday, it all kept coming back up, even the soup," he sighed and took the bag from her, half-sitting against the table, "I don't know what to do next, this tea's the only thing that stays down, but it ain't food," he lifted the bag, then let his hand drop hopelessly.

"Y'know, I know you don't like coming into the cities, but I can't move her out of the house. Do you think… I mean… if I make everyone behave, could you come check her out?"

Kaylin was wide eyed, "I—I would have done so sooner if I had known it was that bad. This has been going on for a week now, it's not just some stomach flu, what are her other symptoms?"

Kaylin was already packing as Cee began to explain, seemingly astonished that Kaylin would so willingly come with him. He explained the stomach pains, clarifying that they were lower abdominal, the high fever, each symptom he add she added something new to her makeshift bag and soon had it slung over her shoulder.

She felt a bit odd, being escorted in the middle of three large men. She held tightly to the straps on her bag. The cities were more like villages, of course there was only so much one could do when being condemned to Neo Australia, left on the surface with nothing but your hands and your jumpsuits. The grandest houses in the village were cabins, other houses were huts like hers. Talent was worth a lot in a place like this, it paid to be good at working wood, or stone, to know how to construct things that were almost modern convenience out of sticks and leaves.

Kaylin's talent, of course, was healing. And it afforded her freedom.

It was to one of the cabins that they went, and once inside, Kaylin's eyes had to adjust to the darkness. The place was lit only through the open windows, but she found the woman she was looking for, laying on a bed with a heavy blanket over her.

"Hey doc," the woman said weakly, blue eyes opening before closing again as she shifted.

"Hey Karla," she said gently, moving over and setting the bag down by her, "I heard you're not feeling well."

Karla laughed, "understatement of the century."

Kaylin smiled, "'Weyland is a jerk' is the understatement of the century."

Karla laughed again, "true that," she said, and the sentiment was repeated throughout the living room.

Kaylin's smile gentled and she took the edge of the blanket, "now Karla, I know you feel cold, but you can't cover up, you'll only make the fever worse. In this heat, it'll be very easy to start killing your brain cells."

"What brain cells?" Cee attempted to joke.

"Someone hit him for me," Karla said.

"Ow, hey!" Cee half-laughed.

Kaylin looked over Karla's body. It was covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Her gentle hands carefully touched her arms and the woman's neck, feeling her brow, furrowing her own. She had Karla open her mouth, and looked at the back of the throat past the woman's tongue ring and then at her eyes.

"Have you been feeling soreness in all your muscles, or is it just the pain in your stomach?"

"All over."

"Okay, can you turn over?"

Karla groaned but complied, and Kaylin put her ear to the woman's back and instructed her to breathe deeply. She put her ear to the woman's chest and also her stomach, listening closely.

"Okay," Kaylin said and opened her bag, "now I know it sounds gross, but I need a urine sample."

"Seriously?"

"Yes," Kaylin handed Cee one of the hand-blown glasses she had and the man helped his wife to a more private room. They returned with the glass and Kaylin tightly secured a cloth over the top. She took some of the woman's blood in just as primitive of a method, took a swab of her cheek lining, and then opened up her bag.

"Alright, these flowers, are pain killers, they don't have a taste, so just chew and swallow," she instructed and set the bag in Cee's hand, "this grass has fever-reducing qualities, and it is bitter, you can boil them with your tea though, I did sweeten it."

She handed him another bag and then pulled out a stone jar, "in here's a paste. You know what paté is?" she asked, Karla and Cee shook their heads

"Isn't that French?" asked one of Cee's boys.

"Okay, it's a kind of meat, spread it on some bread, have it with your tea, it's high in fat and proteins. You've lost a lot of weight," she was not going to explain what it was to a woman who couldn't keep food down anyway, especially since the paste wasn't _exactly_ paté.

"That's a good thing though."

"No," Kaylin said shaking her head and smiling, "not when you lose too much."

She left the things with Karla and had Cee come out with her out of the house, "I'm not ruling out the flu," she said the gentleman, "but this is an alien planet, and it's possible it's something completely new. I'm going to do some tests and see what I can find. Until then, keep her comfortable, and keep her cool. Bucket water from the river, soak a cloth in it and put the cloth on her head but don't let her drink any of it."

Cee nodded and said 'okay' every time a new order came out. Once she was done she huffed, holding both the glasses upright to keep them from spilling. The corner of Cee's mouth twitched and the young man looked up at her, "thanks Kay," he said genuinely, holding back his emotions, "you're the nicest Asian girl I've ever met.

Kaylin smiled but her shoulders slumped. She shook her head as they both chuckled.

"You two," he said to his guards, "get her home," Kaylin waved as Cee disappeared back into the dark cabin. The two large men took her back out of the city and down the road. They were also glad that Kaylin seemed able to help Karla out, and didn't leave her sides until she was in her door. She turned and waved at them, then went back inside and set the two glasses on the table. Along with the cheek swabbing. She stood in silent contemplation about what she would do, knowing that the tests she could do were going to be grossly inaccurate. She wished that she had equipment, a microscope, syringes. But instead she was playing medicine woman, and she was afraid that one day, she would come up short.

Inhaling, she looked over at the white mouse that crawled up past her missing pinky, and placed her small paws on the thin deformed ring finger, looking up at the woman with whiskers twitching.

"Hey Algernon," she said, gently petting the mouse with a finger, "I'm home," she said smiling, "time to get to work."


	4. Not Guilty

"Why don't you join any of us?"

Kaylin smiled and shook her head. She had heard this question often, especially when she was new to this place. The gangs were in a habit of watching the drop ships, and descending on whatever prisoners were abandoned. They were lucky if they were the right race to the gang who found them first.

"I just don't feel about this whole set-up the same way you guys do," she said, casting a glance to her side. Today was someone from the Eagle gang, the Mexicans and other Latinos. Who were not the Spaniards or the South Africans. He stood by one of the inside walls and watched as she smashed herbs in a mortar and pestle on her blood-stained table.

"That's not what I mean," he said, shifting his weight, "I mean that… you could live in the city with your people, and you choose to live out here in the boonies with the plants and the bugs."

Kaylin chuckled slightly, "I don't have people here Adolfo."

The man cocked an eyebrow and leaned to the side to get a better look at her face as she worked, "what do you mean by that?"

Kaylin paused to look at the herbs in the bowl and then went back to tapping, "I'm not sure if you ever noticed, back on earth or maybe from the colony you were from, those fun little science-project kind of kid's toys that let them do the basic blood testing?"

Adolfo thought for a moment, dark eyes almost rolling back into his head before answering, "yeah I think so, the one kinda like the one you could buy for dogs?"

"Yup that's the one," she said, pouring the juice out of the mortar into a small bowl and then going back to crushing, "when I was… ten I think, maybe eleven, I got one of those for my birthday. The first one I tested it out on was myself, the results I got where…," she paused to switch the pestle out for a small spoon and scoop out the crushed herbs onto a plate for drying, "23% English, 20% Inuit, 20% French , 10% Japanese, 10% Pilipino, 9% Irish, 5% Portuguese, 3% Arabic. Which means I am 52% Caucasian, 20% Native America, 3% Arabic and depending on how you want to count the Pilipino part, I'm either 20% Asian and 5% Latino, or I'm 10% Asian and 15% Latino, _or_ I'm 10% Asian, 5% Latino, and 10% Pacific Islander," she looked over at him and smirked a bit, "and I was born in Canada."

Adolfo blinked and then laughed, "well, you're not black," he offered.

"Black Irish," she teased and then added, "and the Arabic part comes from Morocco from when Hannibal crossed into Europe through Portugal, so if you want to get really technical, my 3% Arabic comes from Africa."

Adolfo laughed again, shaking his head, "you're such a nerd."

She smiled over at him kindly, finishing spreading the herbs on the plate and moving it to where the sun could dry them, "I'm just your typical North-American mutt. Yesterday I got two separate compliments for being the nicest white lady, and then the nicest Asian lady anyone's ever met," she smiled again, stepping back inside and going back to the bowl with the liquid in it. She lifted it up and smelled it, setting it down and looking over as a white ball of fur appeared over the edge of the table, looked at her and then cleaned her whiskers.

She smiled and held out her hand, allowing the mouse to relocate to her shoulder.

"Those things are dirty," said Adolfo as Kaylin turned towards some cabinets and began searching through them.

"Algernon isn't one of the mice that came on the ships with us," Kaylin said, groaning as she bent over and filched a bag from one of the lower cabinets, "she's my college thesis."

"She's your thesis?"

Kaylin nodded and walked back to her table, "when I was in college, I was working on finding a cure for muscular dystrophy—."

"What's that?"

"It's a genetic disorder that caused the muscles in a body to deteriorate over time, often confining people to wheelchairs or worse."

"Ah, kay?"

"Well, I thought I had stumbled on a cure using stem-cells to—," she looked over at the man who already looked bored and she laughed at herself, stopping before she got ahead, "sorry, I'll spare the details. But I tested the cure on a lab mouse in order to study the effects it had on healthy muscles, to get an idea on how it would work on MD patients once it was ready for human testing."

Kaylin smiled and gently touched the mouse on her shoulder, "it worked, sort of, a little too well. I ended up accidentally turning her little muscles into… basically organic steel, but not only that but I had apparently jump-started some kind of super immune system by messing with her stem cells. She's my little super mouse, she was going to be my miracle to the world. I found that if I inserted a virus into her system, within mere minutes the proper antibodies needed to fight it were ready for extraction and use, same with venoms and poisons."

Kaylin smiled up at the ceiling, spreading her hands, "I could have changed so much…."

Adolfo stared wide-eyed at the girl as her hands lowered and so did her gaze.

"So what stopped you?" he asked with a shrug and a shake of his head.

"A couple things, found out one of my colleagues wanted to take credit for the experiment, that the muscular effects had military application, and that they planned on killing her to study her new biology closer. So I gave up, I told them that ultimately the experiment was a failure and that subject 28 had expired after suffering horrible side-effects of the drug, and I went to work trying to find a way to duplicate the experiment without the musculature results."

Kaylin put a few pinches of dust into the bowl of green liquid until it started to make a paste. She began to stir it and smiled at bitter-sweet memories.

"That's… amazing," he said, shaking his head again then furrowing his brow, "did you get caught? Is that why you're here?"

Kaylin shook her head as she whisked the mixture and tested its thickness, adding a few more pinches and stirring again. Her eyes began to shine with tears and she cleared her throat uncomfortably, "I was uh… working on LV-7 as a scientist there to study the medicinal properties of the local flora, I was also a back-up medical doctor for the facility, and pioneered a new kind of surgery there," she shifted her weight and turned away from Adolfo, "during one of these surgeries, under the influence of Lysergic Acid Diethylamide, I had a hallucination that all of my fellow doctors and nurses, and the patient I was working on, had turned into monsters, and I had killed them all with my scalpel," her bottom lip twitched slightly and she inhaled deeply through her nose, trying to calm herself down, "seven counts of manslaughter, and illegal use of a hallucinogen."

She looked over at Adolfo, smiling apologetically. The man's eyes were level on her and his jaw was set hard. He tilted his head up and pronounced very simply, "bull shit."

Kaylin smiled genuinely and went back to stirring.

"You pissed someone off, and they got you dropped here," he said and Kaylin nodded.

"It doesn't matter. I plead guilty at the trial, that's what it says on the paper, that's why I'm here."

Adolfo exhaled heavily and his shoulders sank, "man," he said shaking his head, "I don't get why people gotta do shit like that to good people."

Kaylin bit her tongue against the hypocrisy and moved over to where he was standing, "alright," she said quietly, "let me see the burns."

Adolfo peeled his shirt off, hissing slightly and exposing bright red flesh, peeling on his shoulders. She moved him over to sit on her bed so that she could reach his shoulders, and very carefully began to apply the greenish cream to the burns.

"Aww that feels nice," Adolfo said, closing his eyes in relief. She smiled and continued to spread it on, careful to not put any pressure on the burns. He had been working out in the sun it seemed, but his shoulders and upper back got the worst of the burns.

"What are you working on over there?" he asked and she glanced over at the odd set-up of dishes and cloths.

"Um, testing," she said, "one of my patients is exhibiting flu-like symptoms, and I'm trying to see what I can do to help, by trying to find out exactly what is wrong," she dipped her fingers in the dish again and switched to working on his left side, "it's hard, not having all the equipment I need. Beakers, dishes, tubes hypodermic needles," she sighed, "if I had even just, one hypodermic needle, I wouldn't even need to test, I could just use Algernon to make the anti-bodies…."

From how near she was, Kaylin could hear Adolfo grind his teeth a bit. She set her jaw and quieted down, smoothing the paste down his back, "alright, this will do you for today, don't put your shirt back on, and I'll work on making you some more for the next few days."

She smiled at him and went back to her table. It took till about sundown, and by the time the rest of Adolfo's medicine was done, he was asleep on her bed, his back exposed to the air, arms buried under the pillow and face buried into it. She smiled and very gently woke him up. He lifted his head, groggy, and blinked a few times before looking at Kaylin.

"Sorry, did I fall asleep?"

"It's alright," she assured, "I'm sure the burns kept you up last night," she handed him the large bowl with the cloth tied around the top, "here you go, if you need more, just come back, and when your done, could you bring back the bowl?"

"'Course," he said, taking the bowl, "thanks Kay, I owe you one."

Kaylin nodded and saw him out her door. She watched him leave as the shadows of the trees protected him from further damage from the sun. She moved around her house and lit the four small torches around, using the smoke to ward off the bugs before going back inside her hut. She petted Algernon, and took one last look at tests she was doing, before retiring for the night.

She was still at a loss of what to do in the morning, looking at the reactions she had gotten from the urine and being unable to get any conclusions from it. She braced herself against the table and sighed, ducking her head and decided to distract herself with some herb gathering. She had a basket and put her created bug-paste on her skin, stepping outside to work on the garden she had growing nearby. It was good work, tending the plants she had growing there, preening off the dead leaves and making sure they were all healthy. Time went by quickly and without her notice, But sometime in the afternoon she heard her name being called and looked up down the road at Adolfo's approaching figure, carrying a white strip of cloth with him.

She blinked and dusted her hands off on her pants and moved up the road towards him, "are you out already? Is someone hurt?"

"No, no," Adolfo said and sighed, he then lifted his hand, gripping several hypodermic needles in his fist. Her breath was taken away and her hands clapped over her mouth.

"I um, I went to the other gangs," he said, lifting up and looking at the white flag, "and I asked them if they could spare any of these for you," he smiled, "I think there's about twenty here. I would wash them out really, really good though. I don't know what the other guys were using, heroine or steroids, but the ones I got were being used for xeno-zip."

Kaylin's heart paused for a moment, and her hands dropped from her mouth and she rubbed the mutilated flesh of her right hand unconsciously.

"So I would wash them out really, really good, and sterilize them and whatever else doctors do," he handed them to her and she cupped her hands to receive them, sobbing once and looking up at him with tears in her eyes.

"That," she said gripping the needles, "is very, very bad stuff," she looked plaintively at Adolfo whose expression fell slightly into confusion, "and you shouldn't do it anymore," she sniffed and then threw her arms around him, "but thank you so much."

She held in a full-out sobbing session and she felt him move awkwardly before patting her back, "okay Kay, okay, you're welcome, ow."

Right, burns, "sorry, sorry," she said, pulling away and sniffing, looking at her handful of needles and rubbing her eyes. She laughed once, so overjoyed to have these and looked at Adolfo again, "thank you so much. I-I owe you."

Adolfo smiled and shifted his weight, "nah, we're even, till next time."

He waved at her with the hand that held the flag, and turned around back down the road. Kaylin watched him go, then looked at the needles in her hand and rushed into her hut right away. She grabbed water and salt and mixed it together, dropping all the needles inside and paced as she counted to fifteen minutes. Then she grabbed one, dried it out and grabbed Algernon. She was out the door and down the road towards Skull territory.


	5. Kindness

"I still don't get how this mouse is gonna help," Cee said as Kaylin carefully slipped the needle into Algernon's skin. It was difficult, trying to fit the needle between the small muscles, rather than into them, to get what she needed.

"It is a bit difficult to understand," Kaylin agreed, taking only a few CCs of blood from Algernon's blood and slipping the needle out, "let me put it this way," she morved back to Karla, whose condition hadn't improved since she last saw her, "when I take some of Karla's ill blood and put it in Algernon, Algernon's healthy blood learns how to fight it. Then I take Algernon's blood and put it into Karla and it teaches Karla's blood how to fight it."

Cee grimaced, "sounds gross."

"But it works," Kaylin removed the needle from Karla's arm and wiped away the very small dot of blood and smiled, "you're going to feel better really soon," she said, and the red-haired woman managed a smile.

"Thanks doc, I know the first thing I'm going to do when I can walk again," Kaylin turned to her with a curious look, "kick Cee in the pants."

The man threw his arms up in defeat and turned, walking away from the situation but then returning with a smile. Karla chuckled, groaned and turned back onto her back with a sigh. Kaylin remembered the first time she met the woman, having been the one who found her when she had been dropped off, apparently decided she was Caucasian enough to be with the Skulls, and was absolutely livid when Kaylin refused.

Why the rest of her gang called her K-mart was beyond Kaylin's reasoning, but she understood the respect they all had for her. In a way, Karla was the type of woman Kaylin had once wanted to be, strong, intimidating, able to take care of herself.

"Alright guys, all she needs now is rest," Kaylin said, wiping her brow. Even though it was dark outside, the planet was still very hot. Pocketing the needle she, picked Algernon from the table she rested on, cleaning her fur where the needle had assaulted her.

"Hey Kay," Cee said with haste and Kaylin paused, "it's late, crash here," Kaylin truly appreciated the genuine concern on his face.

"It's okay, I've got to get home and pound more oil out of the plum plants I found for another patient," Kaylin had found it was easier to talk to the other gangs about people she was treating, if she never mentioned names or affiliations. In a way, it blurred if not destroyed the line distinguishing everyone from everyone else, by placing them all in the same group: a group of people that just needed help, who got sick and hurt, just like every other human being they knew.

It also kept the gangs from planning strikes on each other if they didn't know exactly _who_ was sick.

"I'll walk you then," Cee said and left another man in charge of watching over Karla. Kaylin gave Cee a grateful smile and walked out with him. It wasn't that _she_ didn't feel safe walking home alone at night, the unanimous rule to leave her alone was one everyone respected, but it was the other gangs that didn't trust the other gangs to keep their side of the promise.

The night on the planet was beautiful. The sky here never really turned black, but a midnight purple instead, and the three moons that circled the planet were red, probably rich in iron. Many of the plants around acted like earth plants, curling leaves and folding petals when the light was gone, and it made sunrise a very interesting display.

"What's plum-plant?" Cee asked a bit suddenly and Kaylin blinked.

"Oh, I named it that, um, you know that small bush that grows here and there, that has the really small but really thick purple leaves?" Cee nodded," well the oil in the leaves is good for… um…," she smiled at herself embarrassed and said quietly, "constipation."

Cee burst out laughing and stopped to slap his knees, "alright, who's got that?"

Kaylin shook her head, "patient confidentiality," she said simply and he shook his head, still chuckling.

"Man," he sighed, getting a hold of himself and started walking again. He was still smiling as they made it into the thicker part of the jungle, the road they walked on only here because of the frequent visits made to her home.

"Thanks for helping Mart out Kay," he said and she smiled humbly.

"I'm glad I could help."

There was silence for a moment, in which Kaylin was unaware that Cee was looking at her.

"How'd you get like this?"

She blinked, and looked at him, confused.

"How can anyone be this nice to people, especially people who aren't nice themselves," well at least he admitted it, "isn't there anyone you hate? That you would want to punch in the face? Weyland, you'd punch Weyland in the face right?"

Kaylin smiled and shook her head, smile broadening as he spoke in disbelief. Kaylin's expression, though, was a bit nostalgic.

"I wasn't always like this," she said and got Cee's attention, "I used to have a really bad temper. I was angry often, people were scared of me. I used to be really mean, getting in fights, pulling hair, breaking teeth. I threw my chair at my third-grade teacher once."

Cee laughed. So did Kaylin. She really hadn't been your stereotypical Canadian back then.

"Then one day, when I was staying over at my grandmother's house, upset because my mother and father had dropped me off and left to go have fun on that resort planet, Zen's Respite I thinks it's called? Without me. Later I came to understand that they were going on their anniversary trip and just wanted some time alone together, but I digress. My grandmother came out into her backyard where I was by her garden and she saw that I had found a praying mantis and I had taken off his legs and wings and I was jabbing him with a hairpin," Kaylin felt a tightness in her chest.

"Brutal," said the man beside her and Kaylin felt uncomfortable with the hint of admiration in his voice.

"My grandmother was appalled and she asked me why I was doing it. 'It's ugly and I hate it,' I said. And I remember my grandmother looking very sad and hurt and she asked, 'did it hurt you?' of course it didn't and then she asked, 'it's because he scared you right?' of course, being the tough little brat I was I didn't admit to it, tough tom-boys weren't scared of bugs. She took him and moved him away from me and made me pay attention. She told me that the praying mantis was very important to her garden, a guardian in a way from the bugs that would eat her plants."

Cee snorted but didn't interrupt any more than that.

"She told me that it was very wrong of me to take him for no reason and torture him the way I did. She told me how much pain he was in now, and that he was beyond hope, and never again would he be able to protect her garden, all because I thought he was ugly.

"So she took a rock and very carefully she squished his head, a quick death and I remember very clearly she said, 'there now poor thing, your pain is over,' and she looked so sad, and I didn't understand, it was just a bug."

Cee nodded, apparently agreeing with the sentiment that the mantis had been nothing really important.

"And then she told me that what I had done was wrong, to try to understand from the mantis' perspective, a giant hideous creature, taking him from his home, ripping his limbs off and stabbing him repeatedly. She told me to think, if it had been me that was snatched and torn apart how I would feel, and I started to understand. She told me that the mantis had done me no wrong, no harm, and was only doing good for her garden and was only as scared of me as I was of him, and he didn't deserve the monstrous thing I had done to him."

She looked at Cee and smiled weakly, "it hit me really hard, being called a monster, especially by my grandmother, and I had started crying. My grandmother hugged me and shushed me and from where I was I could see the squished mantis and I did, I felt _really_ bad for what I had done to him, and I couldn't make it better. I asked her what I could do make amends and she just said to me, 'be nice to the next person that you think is ugly. Try to be friends with someone who has none. Help someone who needs your help, get to know someone who scares you.'"

Kaylin smiled again at the memory of her grandmother's gentle voice, "'there is a power in kindness,' she said, 'a great power in the touch of a helping hand, that can tame even the most frightening of beasts. And you'll find that they're not so scary after all.'"

Kaylin laughed at herself and wiped a tear away from her cheek.

"Your grandma was the Asian one wasn't she?" Cee said abruptly, "that definitely sounds like Asian shit."

Kaylin laughed and shook her head, "well, after that day, I kind of just… switched polarities, I apologized to the people I had hurt, I tried really hard to be nice, I would force myself to go out of my way to get to know the loners who sat alone during lunches, soon I couldn't stand the sight of someone or something in pain, and began trying to do everything I could to make things better for people, and eventually that was just who I was, without trying, it's who I am now."

"So I blame your grandma then," Cee grinned and Kaylin laughed.

"Sure, blame my grandmother, I'm sure she gratefully accepts your accusations."

"She's gone, huh?"

Kaylin smiled sadly, "her pain is over."

Cee gave her a sympathetic smile back and stopped. They were at her house, which surprised Kaylin.

"Oh crap, I didn't realize I was talking for that long, you should have said something I would have shut up!"

"Nah, it was a good story, kinda mushy and touchy-feely. I like the part about how you were a badass as a kid though," he smiled, "kinda wish you were like that now."

Kaylin shook her head, "if I was like that now, I wouldn't have ever become a doctor, I wouldn't be here, helping you, or Karla, or anyone," she smiled, "things are as they should be."

"Alright, I'm out of here before you start preaching more Asian crap to me," Cee threw his arms up and spun, walking away laughing jokingly, and Kaylin snickered. She watched him go before moving back towards her house. She would be lighting the torches, hoping that bugs hadn't already moved in. She stopped before she entered, though, at the sound of her name and turned. Cee was standing on the road, a very serious, maybe slightly worried look on his face.

"You ever get lonely out here by yourself?"

Kaylin smiled and shook her head

_Yes._

Kaylin lifted a hand and waved to him again. He hesitated at first, then waved back and started back up the road. Kaylin worried for him. He was actually at risk of being attacked for walking down the road alone in the dark. She watched him until he was out of sight, and strained to listen, hoping that it would remain silent. She could hear the noise of the nocturnal animals in the jungle, but no violence.

Eventually, she lit the lanterns and went into her home, ready for sleep and a new day ahead.


	6. The Drop

Her sleep was restful, so she didn't understand at first why she had awoken suddenly with a start. She blinked, looking around for anything out of the ordinary. Blurry vision scanned the small area of the hut looking for something out of place, but everything in the circular room was in its place. She blinked a few times, clearing her vision, listening to the insects outside buzz and whine and roar. Wait… roar?

Kaylin suddenly jumped out of the bed, hurrying to get dressed, stumbling with her shoes and rushed out of her hut. Running out without any bug repellant or food she dashed along the road, looking up constantly through the only real break in the trees. Finally she saw what she wanted: the aircraft, a dark-grey inorganic thing against the periwinkle sky, roaring with the power of its engine, angling up to exit the atmosphere of the planet again.

Panicking, Kaylin turned suddenly into the trees at a perpendicular angle to the aircraft and ran through. She could feel the leaves beat and cut against her skin as she ran, small branches scratching and drawing blood, her lungs already burning and her legs already tired. She had never really been athletic in her life, but now less-so than ever. She always told herself she would work-out more, for cases such as this, where running was important.

She wished that she had gotten up sooner when she had awoken, she would have a clearer idea of where it was she was going. Right now she was hoping that this path would at least have her running into _someone_, hoping she would be there soon enough to be of help. She should have kept track of the date, but as she thought about what today was, realized that the drop was too soon.

She was spurred on when she heard shouting, thoughts about the peculiarity were pushed aside, even though her legs felt ready to give out from under her. Her own breath burned her as it entered and exited her throat and she had a horrible stitch in her side, but still she ran. She finally broke through the trees and saw what she was looking for. A group of men in orange jumpsuits standing around a circle, shouting, paired off here and there, some in groups of three or four, watching as two figures wrestled on the ground.

"Stop!" she called, stepping forward with her hands held up, "please stop fighting!" thank god she was here first.

Her movement caught the attention of most of the men there, and the shouting quieted only for a second, probably confused at the brave slight woman walking towards them. She could hear grunting on the ground as she approached the fight.

"Give it—give it to me! Give it to me dried shit!"

Kaylin stopped a distance away as the other people went back to screaming and yelling, some in languages that she didn't understand. Looking on she noticed that of the two wrestling, a Caucasian and a man of African descent, the Caucasian had his hands uncuffed.

"Please stop!" she yelled and moved closer, hands held up pleadingly.

"Stay out of this chink!" someone yelled but she took that final step into the space of the two men, then quickly grabbed the darker man, who was on top and winning the fight, by the collar of his jumpsuit and pulled. He swung back to hit her but got just the fold of her shirt, but she did let go in surprise. He turned to go back to punching the white man in the face some more but she grabbed him again and pulled.

Already furious the man whipped around and stood, just as she felt other hands behind her grab her and try to pull her away. She was hit once hard in her stomach, causing all the breath to leave her and stars to dance around her eyes. She was suddenly dropped to her knees as yells erupted around her. She coughed, swallowed and tried to breathe coughing again, feeling a hand against her shoulder and steady her. The small group of Asians that had been present had taken offense for Kaylin and got between her and the black men who had grabbed her.

"Are you okay?" she heard a voice and looked up to the thin bloodied face of the white man she had helped. She didn't answer, instead she stood up and saw that there was now an even bigger fight going on than the one she had tried to stop.

"Stop!" she yelled and stepped towards the mess. She felt her arm grabbed from behind and looked at the white man, who had glasses haphazardly set on his nose, broken.

Then everything erupted from around her. People rushed in, grabbing other people and dragging them away from each other. She found herself protected by the uncuffed man as people were being separated into groups. Kaylin breathed a sigh of relief.

"Kay's here! Kay's here!" came the cry and it was what she wanted to hear. When new inmates were dropped off, it was only her presence that kept the 'wrong race' from being killed; the wrong race being whoever wasn't a member of the race of the gang who arrived first. This time it was the Mels, which would have been bad for much of the group, as only five of the fifteen or so present where appropriately dark-skinned.

Kaylin gently touched the shoulder of the man who was protecting her from the fight for dominance that immediately occurred between the leader that Kaylin had offended of the African-Americans who arrived with the shipment and Jone, the established leader on the colony. The man looked over his shoulder. His face was initially disarming, thin with wide blue-grey eyes set under short dirty-blond hair, looking more like a man of deep thought than a man of crime, but Kaylin knew better to make assumptions based on appearance.

"Let me look at your nose," she said and he studied her carefully before bending down on one knee to where she could inspect it. The Skulls were the next to arrive, dragging away their Caucasian people from instigating another fight with the much larger Mel gang. Cries declaring Kaylin's presence also went through this group, started by Cee.

"It's broken," she declared and the man sniffed. She used the cuff of her sleeve to gently wipe away the blood, looking at where the bruises were developing on the sides of his nose, bleeding into his eye sockets. Cee came over and looked from the man to Kaylin.

"Hey Kay, already hard at work?"

"Yeah," she sighed and coughed again.

Cee looked at her with a hard gaze and asked, "you hurt?"

She shook her head but her present patient interjected, "one of the men hit her," and nodded towards the group of Mels where it seemed the man in question had submitted to Jone's leadership, for now. Cee gave Jone a hard look and took her patient with him to the group of Caucasians.

"Honkey over there's got a key!" yelled one of the newcomers and Kay stopped the man for a moment, turning him around.

"Can I have it?"

The man hesitated at first, probably sore about being beat-up on by the man Kaylin intended to free, but passed over a home-made key. She brought it to Jone, who unhandcuffed the remainder of his new people and gave it back. She them took it to Cee who did the same, and then moved to the Eagles, who had arrived for their people. One by one everyone began to show up and divide and share their people, the Red Dragons, then the Cazadores and the FSA who had no one to pick up so left.

Kaylin had gone with Cee to his group and had straightened the man's nose with a small warning and a quick movement. He held it in pain groaning, as she was requesting he come by her hut with her so that it could be properly set. She heard yells calling up again and turned, noticing Cee approach the Mels and outrage was picking up at his brazen act.

"One of your new people hit Kay," Cee said to Jone and the man he was referring to looked pointedly at Kaylin, nostrils flaring, "you better teach them quick," it was all Cee said before returning to his people and Kaylin's lips thinned in a smile.

"Alright listen up!" Jone called to his new people, "this here's Kaylin," he pointed at her, "we call her Kay. She's the only doctor we got on this whole damn planet!"

"She's the only one who knows how to take care of us," Cee added, addressing his people, "and is willing to give a damn enough to do so. That means she's off limits. You don't hurt her, you don't rape her your don't try to kill her."

Kaylin could hear Adolfo translating, or maybe just adding his own thoughts on the matter in Spanish to his new people, though Kaylin didn't understand. It was, after all, the one rule everyone agreed on.

It was all anyone had to say on the matter, and soon everyone was on their way with their new people, except Cee, who Kaylin stopped and asked if someone could come with her and the new guy, so that when she was done treating him, he could be shown the way to the Skulls territory.

"Sure thing Kay," he said and moved his head towards her in a jerky fashion. One of Cee's usual buddies, Karson, a big man with a talent for crafting ceramic, stepped up and Kaylin smiled.

"Hello Kars," he smiled and nodded, and the three of them were on their way to her hut. She, took the time that they were walking to look at the small cuts and bruises she had acquired from the jungle, and also to look at her stomach where a bruise was forming as well. Once they arrived at her hut, which the new man seemed to admire for a bit, she had the man sit down on her cot and went immediately to work.

"Your name's Kaylin?"

She looked back over her shoulder as she opened a cabinet, "or you can call me Kay, most everyone else does," she smiled, "what's your name?"

"Julian," he answered, taking off his glasses and looking at them, then began to bend them back into shape, "you're a doctor?"

Kaylin returned to him with a bowl of something that looked like honey, and a couple of small sticks. She gave him a smile and set things down, "there's isn't anything I can do about the bruising, but I'm going to make a small splint so that your nose heals straight. It'll be easy to take off, so try not to touch it too much."

She began to paint on the sticky substance, onto and around the stick, effectively gluing the twig to the side of his nose.

"What's a doctor doing here?" Julian asked bewildered, "I figured they were dropping us off here to die, so why give us medicine?"

"The story is that she killed like ten people," Karson said for her and she smiled through a tight jaw. Julian blinked up at her but she just kept working, "none of us believe it, she won't hurt a fly, she was probably framed."

Julian was silent as Kaylin applied the other side of the makeshift brace. When she was done, she blew on it lightly to help it dry.

"So there are women here as well?" Julian sounded disappointed. That wasn't the usual reaction she got from male inmates when they heard that their kind of women inhabited the planet.

"Yes," Kaylin said, "it's just a penal colony, we call it Neo Australia. Everyone that no one wants to deal with is dropped off here, usually just once a year." Kaylin turned to put her things away.

"But more are coming."

"Eventually," she answered, putting plastic over the sappy bowl so it wouldn't dry out, and putting it away.

"No, I mean, another drop ship, in just a few hours."

Kaylin froze and turned around, looking at Julian with a mixture of confusion and horror.

"They're going to be dropping off over a hundred more."


End file.
